St. Lucie lobbies to keep on the sunny side of FPL's plans

ST. LUCIE COUNTY - After rejecting a coal plant two years ago, the county has embraced trash zapping and considered wind turbines for Hutchinson Island.

Now add solar power to the list of alternative energy sources that might find a home here.

Florida Power & Light Co. wants to build two facilities in Florida — one a demonstration site and the other a large-scale project, both using solar thermal technology that uses the sun's rays to create steam from a heated liquid to produce electricity. St. Lucie County officials have written a letter to Gov. Charlie Crist and the head of FPL asking that it be considered for both, said County Administrator Doug Anderson.

"St. Lucie County is striving to become the greenest county in the state of Florida and one of the leading green counties in the country," Anderson said Wednesday.

FPL has made no decisions on where to locate either plant, though it seems likely the demonstration site will be placed at an existing FPL facility where the steam produced could be used to power generators, said Sharon Bennett, a company spokeswoman. The St. Lucie Nuclear Plant would be a "highly unlikely" choice as the company is mainly looking at plants that use oil and natural gas, she said.

Should FPL decide not to put the demonstration site at one of its plants, St. Lucie has suggested a few county-owned locations, none of which Anderson would name.

Details on the larger solar thermal facility are still to be determined, Bennett said. The plan is part of FPL's general commitment to reducing carbon emissions through clean technologies such as wind and solar, she said.

In late October, FPL started the largest solar project in the state in Sarasota County that's the size of half a football field and uses 1,200 photovoltaic panels to produce about 250 kilowatts of power, enough for about 44 homes, Bennett said. "It takes a lot of real estate to create the amount of energy you need to power a home," she said.

Additionally, FPL has started small demonstration projects using photovoltaic technology at schools in Palm City, Merritt Island and Miami.

Unlike wind turbines, solar panels would have to be placed away from the coast, where the steel used in the solar connectors and mirrors wouldn't be damaged by salt water. They also require a lot of room, which means FPL would want to look for cheap real estate in parts of Florida with a lot of sunny days.

"What we're looking at is actually powering a significant number of homes through solar power," Bennett said.

County Commissioner Doug Coward said he's excited about the possibility of solar power and would like to see St. Lucie County create a "clean energy hub," perhaps based out of the county's research and education park and taking advantage of ties with local colleges. It's too soon to discuss incentives, Coward said, but added there certainly would be the possibility of offering tax rebates or speeding up permitting.

"It's very early, it's just a vision, but it's something I'd very much like to see," he said.

Geoplasma Inc. in Atlanta plans to build and finance a $450 million trash facility on county land that would vaporize 1,000 tons of household garbage per day and convert the gas generated into electricity the company would sell.

LET THE SUN SHINE?

There are two basic types of solar power used by FPL Energy:

Photovoltaic Electricity: uses photovoltaic cells that absorb direct sunlight, similar to solar cells on some calculators. This system is used at Palm City Elementary to power lights in the science building.

Solar Thermal Electricity: uses a solar collector with a mirrored surface that reflects the sunlight onto a receiver that heats up a liquid. This heated liquid is used to make steam that produces electricity. These are the types of plants being considered by Florida Power & Light Co.